Arvind Mills to join carbon credit race

Arvind Mills Ltd, the flagship company of the Lalbhai Group, could soon be the latest entrant in the group of companies jumping onto the carbon credit bandwagon from Gujarat.

The textile major has submitted two Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), which is expected to generate 80,000 carbon credits for the company.

One of the projects involves agro-based steam generation and the other is about gas-based power generation. The CDM projects have already received the green signal from the environment and forests ministry after which they will now be evaluated by validators of the CDM executive board.

"If approved by the executive board, this would be the first time Arvind Mills will receive revenues through carbon credits," said DJ Yadav, head of central utilities, Arvind Mills.

Carbon credits are measured in units of Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) and each CER is equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide reduction.

"The value of one carbon credit could be anywhere between three Euros and ten Euros, and with bank guarantee can even go up to 15-18 Euros," said a carbon credit analyst.

According to the environment and forests ministry, in the last one year, a number of companies from Gujarat had received the carbon credit nod, which include Torrent Power, ONGC's Hazira Refinery, Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd (Iffco), Essar Power, Reliance Industries and Apollo Tyres.

The concept has roots in the Kyoto Protocol, the global warming treaty that requires countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions partly through the buying and selling of carbon credits.